
Why Listen?
Welcome to Leaving CrazyTown, a podcast by Dr. Sarah Michaud and Finn Allen. They help navigate life’s ups and downs, including codependency. With personal experiences and mental health expertise, they offer insights and strategies to overcome challenges and lead fulfilling lives. Episodes cover anxiety, depression, relationships, and self-improvement. This podcast is for anyone seeking guidance to improve mental health and well-being. Join Leaving CrazyTown and start your journey to a happier, healthier life.
Leaving CrazyTown
Finn and Sarah get real (and really funny) about health anxiety—the mental habit of turning every ache into catastrophe—and share how recovery tools like reality-checking, perspective, and self-compassion can break the spiral. You’ll hear outrageous mind-movies, why our brains escalate to “late-stage everything,” and simple practices to build a looser, friendlier relationship with your thoughts.
Takeaways
Thoughts are not facts; feelings are not emergencies—build space before reacting.
The mind loves worst-case stories (“late stage everything”); humor shrinks their power.
Reality-check: get clarity with a call or simple test before catastrophizing.
Past losses/trauma can prime health anxiety; name the trigger to lower intensity.
- Self-permission helps: if you do overreact (ER calls, extra vet visits), meet it with compassion and learn.
Key Timestamps
00:00 — Welcome & “I thought it was an aneurysm” opener.
02:00 — Why the brain jumps to late-stage diagnoses.
04:05 — The dog-at-the-vet spiral (and the bill).
05:10 — The “black spot” baby story: a washcloth cure.
08:00 — Panic calls after family loss—when trauma fuels alarms.
- 11:10 — Tools: clarity calls, humor, and perspective practice.
If this episode resonated, share it with a friend who might be stuck in their own CrazyTown—and don’t forget to subscribe for more raw recovery talk.
Come for the truth bombs, stay for the laughter, and leave with a renewed sense of agency. Subscribe and review the podcast, watch on YouTube @leavingcrazytown, and share episodes with a friend who’s ready to leave CrazyTown.
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Meet Your Hosts - Sarah Michaud & Finn Allen
Dr. Sarah Michaud is a clinical psychologist who has worked in the field of addiction, recovery, and codependency for over thirty years. She began her career at a well-known psychiatric hospital outside of Boston and helped create the rehab program for a new residential center. Having achieved her own sobriety from alcohol and cocaine since 1984, Sarah brings her experience, education, and expertise to working with people and groups who struggle with difficult relationships and addiction. She is known for her sense of humor and direct approach to treatment.
Dr. Sarah Michaud is the author of the book CoCrazy: One Psychologist’s Recovery from Codependency and Addiction Memoir and Manual to Freedom. Her latest adventure is co-hosting the YouTube channel Leaving CrazyTown with her friend Finn, a sober transgender attorney. They discuss serious and difficult topics with a sense of humor. She believes sobriety is about living your best life, finding peace, and experiencing joy. Finding freedom from addiction and codependent relationships allows you to find that joy.
Finn Allen, a sober tax attorney by day and a Codependency Recovery YouTube channel co-host at night.
Finn’s first suicide attempt was before age ten because he was “raised” by “wolves.” He discovered achievement as a way to manage and survive trauma/abuse. This resulted in numerous degrees and, eventually, becoming a tax attorney. Numbers, we can control.
He got sober in 2016, precipitating the transition from his identity with achievement to a new attachment and dedication to live a joyous, connected life.
In 2020, Finn met Dr. Sarah Michaud in a twelve-step Zoom meeting. They decided to create an online codependency recovery group focused on solutions, empowering relationships, and finding freedom from repetitive patterns of connection. It was during the co-hosting of this group that Finn could accept that he was transgender. Ironically the name of the group was Coming Home to Ourselves. Finn’s transition has led to many comical and not-so-comical growth opportunities. Despite the challenges, he is finally home in his body and the world.
Finn and Sarah launched their YouTube channel, Leaving CrazyTown, in the fall of 2022 as a way to reach a larger audience and support people in healing from codependency and addiction while experiencing joy, laughter, self-compassion and the journey home to who you were always meant to be.